Sweat
by RoseSama35
Summary: It had a pungent, almost tangible odor. It could fill a room quickly, thicken the air around you and nearly choke you for breath. But it didn't smell like your average sweat: of body odor, exertion and musk. It was very much a different breed; lightly musky, but vile, almost putrid, bringing one to think of rot. It smelt of sickness.
1. Part 1

**Sweat**  
_Part 1_

_Author's Note: _Hello everyone, I hope you've been well! I just wanted to give you a little info before diving into my next semi-large fanfiction project. I'm not going to give anything about the story away because I want you to enjoy the story. But I will say that this is still a work in progress, that doesn't have nearly as much planning put into it that the Before The Fall series did. What does that mean for you, the reader? Unfortunately, updates won't be as regular as you or I may like them. But I will try my hardest to not keep you waiting for long. This is a story that I do thoroughly enjoy, and I hope that you enjoy it as much as I do. I'll stop talking and let you get to reading. Please, let me know what you thought. Comments, concerns, what you liked, what needed improving. I appreciate every bit of insight that I can get!

(Start)

She remembered the sweat. It had a pungent, almost tangible odor. It could fill a room quickly, thicken the air around you and nearly choke you for breath. But it didn't smell like your average sweat, of body odor, exertion and musk. It was very much a different breed; lightly musky, but vile, almost putrid, bring one to think of rot. It _smelt _of sickness.

She remembered wiping the sweat from her brow with a cool wet cloth, and the gentle smile she would receive from granting just the smallest amount of comfort. But no matter how often she dabbed, the sweat would return in less than a minute. Frustrated, worried, determined, she would dip the cloth in a bowl of cold water and wipe again.

She remembered the pale green eyes that would look up at her, some days stronger, some days weaker. They would always beseech her, tell her that she didn't have to this, that she didn't have to be there. The kindness in those eyes would reverberate through her body. She could feel it spread from her shoulders down into the tips of her fingers, spreading from her chest in all directions, reaching from her hips an spilling down her legs. It would was over her, humble her. And she would gently reply to those beautiful eyes that it was physically impossible for her to be or even desire to be anywhere else. And both their eyes would smile.

Then H.G Wells would wake, and the world would grow darker from the lack of those eyes.

Curled up into one corner of the large queen-sized bed, Helena found that she was not ready to be awake. But then, she hardly ever was these days. More often then not, dreams were a much more desirable place to be. But she was awake now and there were things to be done; there was always an endless list of things to be done. So Helena slowly uncurled her body and stretched, shrugging off the thick comforter as she did.

She found herself alone in the bed and the spacious brick apartments. The room was chilled and the floor was half as cold as ice to her bare feet. She quickly dressed and brushed her teeth in the washroom off to the side, making a mental list of the places she might find her partner. After grabbing a few things from around the room (papers and notes and notebooks, pencils, pens, a set of keys and a cell phone, a calculator and a ruler) and placing them in her satchel, she made her way for the door. When she opened it, Trailer came trotting from one corner of the room to follow her.

Outside the room she was greeted with a wrought iron landing and a set of matching stairs that led down to the narrow walkway that circled the Warehouse office. The duo quickly passed through the empty office and into the umbilicus. As the Englishwoman suspected, she found Claudia Donovan outside. Sitting on the ground, the young red-head had her back against the Warehouse and her jacket laid across her lap. The girl was staring out across the vast desert expanse – long miles of red sand, dried craggy flat-lands and hills of nothing but rock and clay – her eyes intense and distant, her forehead scrunched in laborious thought.

Having spotted the girl, Trailer quickly trotted off in her direction with tail wagging to lick her face. Helena more slowly crossed the few yards between the girl and the door to stand next to Claudia and look out across the South Dakota badlands.

It was late November and the cold was sharp and imposing. A strong with had yet to die down and set Helena's tailcoat to flapping. Almost immediately after stepping outside, the inventor was longing for the warmer recesses of the deep and endless Warehouse. But she would not be greedy. Helena knew that the brisk cold air felt wonderful on Claudia's burning skin. Oft times the girl would come outside first thing in the morning, trying to find some relief from the flames burning wildly within her own body. So, wrapping her coat about her more tightly, Helena leaned against the Warehouse, tucked her hands beneath her armpits and remained in silence for a few minutes longer.

While she waited the Englishwoman closed her eyes and tried to recapture her dream. Bitter a memory as it was, it was much sweeter than the reality she was facing now. Unfortunately her mind was too active with the things that needed to be done that day.

"how long have you been out here?" the Englishwoman asked after five minutes, raising her voice to be heard over the wind. Claudia cleared her voice, pulling out a few coughs as she did before answering.

"Thirty minutes." She coughed again and Helena noted that the cough was not as wet a cough as it was yesterday, which she was glad for. "Maybe less."

"Well I think it's best if we get you inside them," Helena concluded as she moved from her perch to stand in front of Claudia. The young girl did not protest as Helena helped her to her feet and dusted off her dark jacket. Her legs were shaky and her palms were sweaty. She leaned heavily on the older agent as she was lead to the front door of the Warehouse.

"How are you feeling this morning?" Helena asked after Claudia overcame a short coughing fit.

"Fine," the young red-head answered. "A little sweat, though," she added with a chuckle. Helena mocked a laugh as well. She didn't find it particularly funny, but was glad the girl was in brighter spirits than she had been in past days. "But definitely better than yesterday. Couldn't hardly get out of bed yesterday."

"I remember. Part of the problem is that you haven't been eating. How do you expect your body to keep strong if you don't give it the energy it needs?" Helena chastised.

"I guess this is the part where you try to get me to eat something," Claudia mused as the two stepped inside the umbilicus. Helena waited for Trailer to trot in after them to close the door. Helena was glad to be out of the cold but could already see tiny beads of sweat forming on the teenager's forehead.

"Yes, it is," Helena said as she offered her arm to Claudia. The girl waved it away, confident that she could manage on her own, and followed Helena into Warehouse 13, "A bit of breakfast will do you good, darling."

"I guess I could eat," Claudia concluded. "Nothing too heavy though. I don't think my stomach could handle it."

"Some cereal then. How does that sound?" Helena asked as they came to the end of the umbilicus and she opened the door to the office.

"Sounds tasty!" Claudia chimed as she followed into the office and closed the door behind them. "You make the best cereal in the whole state, H.G, and that's a fact!"

"Well," Helena replied, unable to resist smiling at her partner's cheer, "Nobody can pour milk quite like I can." The two laughed and Trailer wagged his tail as all three passed through the office. And for a moment, just a little while, Helena could let the laughter distract her from the empty Warehouse. She could let it distract her from how their footsteps echoed throughout the room and returned such a hollow sound. It distracted her from how the walls always felt cold no matter how high the heating was turned up. Most of all, she let it distract her from how still the Warehouse had become.

That Helena hated most of all: the stillness. The Warehouse – be it 12 or 13 – had always had a feeling of life to it. From the very moment she stepped within its endless bowels, she had a sense that the place was teaming with energy. She could feel it prickling at her skin and in the beating of her heart. The Warehouse was alive! Was …

Mechanically there was nothing wrong with it. She and Claudia regularly saw to that. But the tingling was gone; the spark of life had faded. Walking through the aisles had always felt like strolling through a magnificent museum. Now it felt more akin to a moratorium. Strangely appropriate after Mrs. Fredrick …

No! She pushed the memory out of her head. So much for a brief distraction. She instead set her mind to putting some food in both she and Claudia's bellies. There was a small kitchenette off to the left side of the spacious apartments above the office. It was there that the two sat down to a bowl of cereal each. Claudia preferred a brand called Captain Crunch that Helena could not at all stomach. She often – as she did now – went for more flaky brands of cereal such as Special K. Trailer had dog food with bits of leftover ravioli mixed in. There the two women went over their plans for the day. For the most part their plans were the same as yesterday, and the day before that, and the day before that, and the day before that. There was only one slight variation that Helena was hesitant to mention. Unpleasant as it was it still had to be said, and had to be done.

"We're running low on supplies," Helena began. "A great deal of them." Claudia's eyes were the definition of woe as she looked up from her half-finished breakfast. Sweat glistened off her neck, dampening her fiery bright hair and making it stick to her face. "We need to go into town today." When Helena finally gave voice to their need for travel today, Claudia's shoulders fell. With a groan she pushed away her bowl of cereal.

"Oh man! I hate going into town!" Claudia exclaimed as she wiped at her moist forehead with the back of her hand.

"As do I," Helena agreed. Claudia coughed twice, then a third and fourth time. She gripped her chest in pain on the last one, visibly wincing. As another cough overcame the young woman, Helena could not stand the sight of Claudia's pain any longer. She rose from the table and went to Claudia's side, producing a handkerchief from her pocket as she went. The sick girl gladly went into the older woman's arms as Helena gently wiped away the sweat from her brown ad around her face.

"Are you sure …," Claudia began, trying to speak around her coughs. "Are you sure we can't do it tomorrow? Or … or you know … never again?"

"Would that we could," Helena answered wistfully as she gave Claudia a squeeze. "Well, if you don't mind eating dried dog food, then certainly. I for one, however, have no intentions of sharing with Trailer." Claudia did not respond, but pressed her face into Helena's stomach and grumbled. Helena took the liberty of wiping at the back of Claudia's neck with her kerchief. She did not fail to notice that the backside of Claudia's shirt was well saturated in sweat.

"You could stay here if you want. I'll make the trip as quick as possible," Helena said gently. Claudia did not take a moment to consider it.

"No, no way!" she stated before a cough interrupted her. "I won't make you go alone." And Helena did not put up a fight.

Truthfully, she was glad. She was fearful of letting Claudia out of her sight for too long, less something happened and Helena was nowhere near to help. And she was glad that she would not be going into Univille alone. Already her mind was recapturing the memory of their last visit into Univille, and the gruesome scene that greeted them.

(To Be Continued...)


	2. Part 2

**Sweat**  
_Part 2_

Author's Note: And here we are at part two. I won't take too much of your time, just wanted to thank KJay99, Introextrovert, and I Wear the Crown for the reviews, and for everyone who stopped by for a read. I'm glad that I've caught your interest, and I hope I continue to do so. This is a bit of a shorter chapter, but still important to the story. Please, let me know what you thought. Comments, concerns, what you liked, what needed improving. I appreciate every bit of insight and critique that I can get!

(Start)

The highway seemed to stretch on and on. To either side of her was desolation. It had always been that way: a red barren land, dusty, dried and cracked. But now the sight of the dessert road seemed more of a pointed image; a proper description of the world, and her heart.

The trip to Univille took longer now than it did in the good days. But Claudia knew it was because H.G drove there slowly. Her fellow British agent always said it was to be cautious, because one could never be certain of who was driving recklessly these days. But Claudia knew better. Dessert roads were never busy places, especially in little nowhere places like their corner of South Dakota. And after the outbreak it was even truer. The highway was always empty. The only scenery they saw between town and the Warehouse was a white minivan that had broken down on the side of the road three months ago. And they had already passed that. No, Claudia knew that H.G drove slowly because she was in no rush to get to Univille. Claudia was not inclined to argue.

Huddled in the front passenger seat, the young girl leaned her head against the door frame, enjoying the breeze from the open window that helped to cool her head. It would be another 15 minutes before they got to Univille at least, so she closed her eyes and tried to get some rest. Sleeping was always difficult and she rarely got much of it. But car rides always seemed to ease her coughing, so she took the opportunity every chance she could.

Claudia hated this: always being sick. She hated always being hot and too sweaty. She hated that her muscles always ached and her bones always creaked. She hated that she could almost never stop coughing, and that it was so damn hard to ever get a full breath. She hated always being tired and as weak as a wet noodle. She hated the loneliness. Most of all, she hated the black pit of grief that was continually rotting in her chest. She would completely hate life if it weren't for H.G being there, always keeping her moving forward. H.G was her partner, her caretaker, her light in the dark and only source of hope. She didn't know how H.G managed to keep it all together, but she was grateful beyond words that she did.

As much as she tried not to think about the past, she could never shake the memories. They were there every resting and waking moment, following her, torturing her. As she closed her eyes one came trotting forward even now, unwanted and painful.

She remembered getting out of bed that morning. She wasn't sick then – at least not physically sick – just tired and constantly worried. She remembered noting how silent the house was before she even took her shower. From the moment she had opened her eyes, something felt … off. She snacked on crackers while drying off from the shower and getting dressed. She had too much to do and would worry about breakfast (or lunch) later. Her friends needed her. As she stepped out of her room and into the hallway of the Bed & Breakfast, she could hear the sound of someone coughing. Someone was always coughing. But judging from the gruffness, she guessed it was Artie.

It was a miracle that they were able to get Artie to a hospital quick enough to patch up the dagger wound. It seemed like taking that stab pulled Artie's mind back together and everyone was beyond relieved about that. But upon returning home he quickly got sick. Everyone got sick. The entire _world _got sick. But Artie seemed to be fairing especially bad. Even before the outbreak he always seemed to be catching colds. And it had been two days now since he had gotten out of bed. Claudia was worried about him. But then, she was worried about everyone, constantly.

Claudia remembered thinking that she wanted to check on Artie first, but that she would need H.G's help. Even sick, the old bear was still a two-man (or in this case, a two-woman) job. So she headed down the hall to Myka's room.

Claudia thought then as she thinks now that it was a bitter-sweet affair with Myka and H.G. It wasn't until the world has turned upside down and slid into chaos that the two finally realized their feelings for one another. And even though H.G helped out with everyone, she stayed with Myka. Claudia was the only one who even knew that they had romantic feelings for each other. H.G only ever talked about it with her, and not very often at that. Myka – as far as Claudia knew – didn't talk about it at all. Everyone else just assumed that they shared the room to save space, which made perfect sense. With Artie being sick, he stayed at the B&B so that he could be better looked after, instead of alone in his quarters at the Warehouse. That took up the remaining spare room they had. When Joshua (the pain of thinking about her big brother was almost too much to deal with) flew in to South Dakota to make sure Claudia was okay, they shared a room. So while the lack of space was a true enough reason to share Myka's room, Claudia knew it was because H.G wanted to spend every possible moment with Myka.

It was cramped but they were trying their best to make it work. Today, like any other day, there was plenty of work to be done. So she was a little surprised to see Myka's door slightly ajar. And the quiet of the house suddenly closed in around her. Claudia remembered a distinct feeling of dread setting in the pit of her stomach as she stared at the oak-brown door. But she steeled her nerves and pushed past what surely must have been some irrational and unnameable fear.

She stepped forward and pushed open the door.

"Hey H.G, are you …," she paused, "... awake?" Then quickly, all too quickly, it her. The room was chilled and quiet, with a thin layer of dust setting on the window sill. Myka was lying in bed on her back. H.G sat in bed on her knees, her hair in a ponytail to keep most of it out of her eyes. In both of the Englishwoman's hands was one of Myka's hands. And Myka was still, her eyes closed. She looked like she was sleeping. H.G was just as still, not a single muscle moving. The morning sun was beginning to come through the window across from the bed. The golden light reflected off Helena's face, making the tears streaming down her cheeks and chin sparkle like crystals.

Claudia was frozen, unmoving for a long time. H.G did not move for longer.

(To Be Continued ...)


	3. Part 3

**Sweat  
**_Part 3_

**Author's Note: **Hello everyone, I've finally updated! I'm sorry this one took so much longer than the previous update. Aside from being a much longer chapter, a little bit of life got in the way. I want to thank everyone who took time to read as well as those who review and shared their thoughts. I always love getting your opinion, and I hope you continue to share. Things liked, things you didn't like, places where I may have screwed something up or got it just right; I like it all! Well, that's enough of me talking! I hope you enjoy Sweat, Part 3!

(Start)

A hand to her shoulder startled Claudia Donovan awake and set her to coughing. Her chest clenched tightly as the coughs racked through her body.

"Oh dead, I'm so sorry Claudia!" Helena Wells quickly apologized. "I didn't mean to frighten you." Immediately the older woman went to patting Claudia's back until the coughs subsided.

"No, it's cool," Claudia finally responded as she drew in deep breaths. Helena's hand came away damp with back sweat.

"Feeling all right?" the inventor asked, glancing away from the road for a moment to look at Claudia with worry.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," Claudia assured her as she pushed out a cough to clear her throat. "I was just napping."

"Well I'm afraid the nap is over. We're pulling into Univille now."

True to her word, their red SUV was just now going past the cheery sign proclaiming "Welcome to Univille!" in bright green letters. Realizing where they were, Claudia jerked her hand up to close her window as quickly as possible. She got it up just in time. As the SUV drove past the sign it disturbed a mass of flies. They scattered into the air, obscuring Helena's view through the windshield for a brief moment. What they left behind on the ground was the corpse of a man, his clothes ragged, his body particularly decayed. Helena kept her eyes on the road, full well remembering the cadaver that greeted them every time the entered the small town.

The streets of Univille were deserted and in the early stages of ruin. The desert was slowly reclaiming what was once taken from it, and the streets and sidewalks had a thick coating of sand. Here and there was trash and little, old papers and plastic bags skipping down the street with the wind. Every other building had a window blown out or a door boarded up. In the backseat, Trailer whimpered as Helena turned the corner onto Maple Lane, their least favorite street.

Some time about 3 and a half months ago a fire started and ran wild in Unville, swallowing up the entire block. The sand in the street was now mixed with soot, making the road here look like a gray river. Most of the buildings on the block were scorched black on the front and sides, with all the windows blown out of them. Claudia could still see the glass shards that littered the equally black and gray sidewalk as they caught the sun and glinted. What buildings weren't blackened were nothing but piles of burnt rubble and ash, blacked chunks of stone and bright with half crumbled rods of steel. Lastly, scattered heavily among the wreckage were corpses. Many were charred black, others only partially burned or not at all. All of them were left out and rotting. They were hanging halfway out of windows, sitting in open doorways, stretched out of the streets and sidewalks, bent over benches or half buried beneath the rubble of burnt down buildings.

While the rest of Univille was saved from the fire, it wasn't exactly better. All about the small town, the dead had been discarded because there was no-one to see to their burial. It took quite a while for the outbreak to strike Univille. But when it did it took hold so swiftly that none of the townsfolk were prepared. They just died, like the rest of the world. And left Helena and Claudia behind.

Helena and Claudia were now all to familiar with the despairing state of the once sweet little town. Claudia looked down into her lap once they turned onto the scorched Maple Lane, wanting to see as little as possible. Helena kept her eyes locked forward, veering around the bodies as she navigated through the streets. But even as they left Maple Lane behind, the smell of smoke and rot followed them.

In another few minutes the British agent pulled alongside a small storefront and parked the car. They had reached their destination: a small pharmacy with neat bold letters across the top naming it Aunt Jackie's Healing & Pharmacy. Before shutting off the engine however, Helena took a minute to closely observe her surroundings. Emptiness, desolation, sand and neglect, a thick and deathly silence broken only by Claudia's coughing. Being in Univille, literally surrounded by death, always put Helena on edge. But nothing moved besides the wind and the flies.

Claudia looked out the window then back at Helena, waiting for her partner to give the O.K. To herself Helena counted to forty-five (45) before taking in and letting out a deep breath, and switching off the SUV.

"All right Claudia," Helena stated as she opened her door. "First stop."

"Um, you mean only stop?" the sick red-head asked, a cough breaking up her sentence.

"No darling, first stop," Helena responded as she undid her seat belt and climbed out of the red vehicle. Trailer did not wait for her to open the back door and climbed out through the driver's side. "I'd like not to return for several months if I can help it. So we need to get as much as we can in one trip," she explained as Claudia stiffly climbed out of the SUV and closed the door behind her.

"Yeah, I hear you, H.G. So let's go see what Aunt Jackie is selling," Claudia replied, trying to sound a little up beat. Helena led the way into the small town pharmacy with Claudia and Trailer close behind.

Although the two Warehouse agents had not been frequenting this particular pharmacy over the past several months, the inside of the store looked very much like the rest of Univille. In the grip of fear and a frenzy to stave off death, pharmacies all across the nation – indeed the world – had been habitually harassed, stormed and broken into. Although Univille was a tiny farming community, the reaction to the outbreak was the same. People were clamoring for anything that would offer some form of relief from the symptoms or the smallest glimmer of hope for a cure. All was in vain of course, so fear turned to anger, directed at everything and everyone. And Aunt Jackie's Healing & Pharmacy was a reflection of that.

Helena and Claudia carefully picked over the broken glass, busted wood and the litter of assorted stock that had been thrown about. In some parts entire aisles had been emptied or trashed. Even still, there was much and more that could be used and Helena was intent on salvaging as much as possible.

"I guess Aunt Jackie was having a sale," Claudia commented dryly as she surveyed the wreck of the store. Helena snorted, only a little bothered that she found that funny. But when living at the end of the world, one found humor in the darkest of places.

"Gloves on, Claudia," Helena said as she reached into her own coat pocket to grab a pair of gloves. The power had long gone out so there were no lights. In fact, one of the florescent light fixtures had been attacked so forcefully that it was now dangling from the ceiling by just a few thin wires. But it was midday and all of the windows were open (or broken) so the afternoon light chased away most of the shadows. As Claudia coughed and put on her gloves and as Trailer sniffed around for any possible treats, Helena looked around the store until she spied the check-out counted towards the back.

"Claudia, I want you to keep Trailer with you and have a look 'round front here for anything useful, or anything that hasn't already spoiled," Helena instructed. "And mind you not to touch anything sharp. The last thing we need is you getting infected from a silly cut while you're still sick."

"Jeez, I got it mom!" Claudia huffed in mock frustration. "This isn't my first scavenger hunt." But when the young girl looked up at her older partner, she found that she was on the receiving end of Helena's 'I'm not kidding, young lady' look. Claudia sighed. "Don't worry, I got it H.G," she said before a few coughs forced their way out of her. "Find stuff. Be safe."

Helena shook her head before giving Claudia a playful (and gentle) shove. "You forgot the part about keeping Trailer with you." At that Claudia rolled her eyes and Helena allowed a small grin. "I'm going to check the back to see if there is any medicine left untouched … doubtful as that may be," Helena continued as she began walking towards the back. "Shout if you need me. For absolutely anything."

"Don't worry,I will."

The scavenge through the small-town pharmacy was relatively uneventful. While sifting through a pile of items near the freezers, Claudia slipped in a puddle of melted ice cream. She very nearly fell, but was able to hold on to one of the freezer door handles and kick several random things across the store before regaining her feet. The raucous was like a bomb going off in the quiet, seeming to echo not only through the empty shop but through the silent town as well. It made both she and Trailer freeze, as if the noise she had just made was likely to wake some sleeping monster. Helena came running immediately, and spent the next seven minutes looking Claudia over and making sure she was perfectly fine.

As Helena ventured into the back of the pharmacy, she found a stock of assorted medications greater than she would have dared to hope for. She grabbed as much as her shopping basket could hold, went out to the SUV to empty the contents in the trunk, and went back for more. She even explored the back offices for things like paper, pens, post-it notes, pencils and scotch tape. But as she pushed open the second office door she was immediately assaulted with the stench and decomposition. There at the desk, sitting slouched in a chair, was a body dressed in khaki pants and a dingy white lab coat. It was still clear enough by the features of the face and the fuzzy white hair that remained on the head that it was an elderly woman. But the skin had turned a pallid gray and was pulled sharply across the skull and against the fingers. And the eyes were so sunken in that they nearly disappeared into their sockets. Helena had a grim suspicion that she may have finally met Aunt Jackie.

Either way, the corpse slouched at its desk as if it were prepared for a day's work and the repugnant smell were enough to kill any desire to explore further. Content with her findings, she left the back of the pharmacy to help Claudia quickly wrap up her search. The Englishwoman's timing was spot on because she found her American partner standing in one aisle, her shoulders slouched, sweat matting her hair and trailing down her neck. The young girl was leaned against the shelves and panting heavily. Despite insisting that she was fine, Helena gathered up their things and ushered Claudia outside into the chilled November day. She sat Claudia in the front passenger seat with the door open as she loaded up the trunk with their things.

Not that it was warm inside Aunt Jackie's, but Claudia was glad to feel the winter breeze again. As she breathed in and out slowly, the dizziness began to pass. Her hands felt like they were submerged in water so she pulled off her sweat-soaked latex gloves and tossed them to the ground. Claudia closed her eyes and in another few minutes Helena was in front of her again, wiping away the sweat on her neck with her handkerchief.

"I'm sorry," Claudia mumbled.

"There's nothing to be sorry about," Helena replied softly. "We merely need to be more careful about over-working you."

"I wasn't over-worked," Claudia protested. "I just got a little dizzy."

"Well you certainly looked over-worked to me," Helena argued as she wring out the kerchief before going to wipe away some sweat on Claudia's forehead.

"H.G," Claudia said flatly as she took the kerchief from Helena's worrying hands. "In my condition, I always _look_ over-worked." With a huff, Helena could not help hanging her head with a smile. She was being worrisome again. But she could hardly help herself. Claudia was all that she had in the world. She would not have the strength to even get out of bed without her. And she would never forgive herself in this life or the next if she allowed something to happen to the young girl. She was in such a fragile state as it was, Helena could barely contain her mothering nature.

"I'm sorry Claudia. You know how I worry about you," Helena said.

"Yeah, I know you're just looking out for me and I wouldn't have it any other way," the red-head replied with a genuine smile.

After a few minutes rest and after Trailer emptied his bladder on the side of Aunt Jackie's building, they loaded up the rest of their findings and headed for the local food market.

At this point, anything fresh had either been taken or long since rotted. Produce, meats, dairy, fish and poultry would all be far beyond use. That much the due were well aware of. But that did not mean that there were not plenty of items that were still perfectly fine. It would be non-perishables and dried food that they would be after today, and as much as they could carry.

On the way there, Claudia pointed out that they ought to stop by the hardware store, to which Helena agreed.

As they were making their way past the modest Univille Library, they encountered a small herd of cows. There were only five or six of the large beasts, but Helena had to park the car and wait for the bovine to clear the road. This wasn't the first time that the trio had encountered the group of cows, and Trailer barked eagerly at them. They had somehow managed to escape their pasture and now regularly wandered between it and the town. Sometimes they even wandered as far as the Warehouse and would graze around there for a few days. The two agents would take such an opportunity to milk them.

In their own time the cattle finally moved on. With the cows out of the way, Claudia and Helena drove on to the hardware store and the grocer, collecting more supplies without incident. Everywhere they went was just the same as the rest of the town. Void of life. Desolate and abandoned. Empty but for the bodies of the towns people and the remnants of their long-gone lives.

The local grocery store was a bit more difficult for the two women. The combined smell of spoiled food and rotting flesh was enough to make even Trailer gag. Fortunately the weather had turned cold, suppressing the scents. In the previous summer months, the stench was nearly unbearable. Still, the women soldiered on, picking through the remains until they had enough to fill up the trunk of the car and half of the back seat.

After nearly two hours of scavenging, Claudia was feeling very weak and her coughing was getting worse. So Helena had Claudia sit down in the front passenger seat to rest. While the young red-head sucked on a cough drop to help ease the soreness of her throat, Helena busied herself loading the remainder of their findings into the backseat, making sure to leave enough room for Trailer. Trailer, on the other hand, was gnawing on a chew toy that had found in the pet supper section which was largely untouched.

"Hey H.G," Claudia wheezed out before more coughs overtook her. Helena quickly shoved a massive bag of dried dog food into the back seat before shutting the door and moving to the passenger side to check on Claudia. The young girl had one hand over her chest as the coughs worked their way through her body, each one sounding more strained then the last.

"Try to breath in slowly, darling," the Victorian woman said as she reached around Claudia to grab her bag that she'd left sitting in the driver's seat. She placed the bag in Claudia's lap and quickly began to sift through it.

"I wonder," Claudia gasped, coughing and trying to catch her breath at the same time, "if this is … what it feels like … to have asthma."

"I'd rather not speculate," Helena replied. Finally, she found what she was looking for and pressed a bottle of cough syrup into Claudia's hands. "Here, drink some of this." Claudia gladly took two swallows of the mixture that Helena had made herself. Conventional cough medicine did not have any great affect on Claudia's condition. So with some studying and some tinkering, Helena was able to find a solution that was roughly seven times more affective at easing Claudia's coughs. Sure enough, in a few seconds the younger agent's breaths were coming more easily and the coughs were completely gone. Unfortunately it only treated a single symptom, and not the illness itself.

"Mm, you made the orange flavor again," Claudia commented as she screwed the top back on the small bottle.

"I explicitly remember you being less than fond of the grape flavor I had made previously," Helena replied.

"What gave it away? Was it maybe the multiple times that would gag after a does?" Claudia asked jokingly, already feeling in a better mood.

"Come now Claudia. I tasted it myself and it wasn't _that _dreadful," the inventor replied.

"Or perhaps it was the look of vile disgust on my face as I tried to force it down?" the teenager continued with a look of mock grimace.

"Now that is enough young lady. Keep on and you'll be in for a spanking!" Helena responded playfully as she put the special-made cough syrup back into her bag. The thought of Helena actually attempting to spank the younger agent like a small child set Claudia to laughing.

"Oh that's rich!" Claudia exclaimed.

"And don't think I wouldn't just because you're ill," Helena added with a pointed finger.

"You'd have to catch me first!" Claudia replied, continuing to laugh. With so few circumstances that could be considered funny in these dark days, Helena could not at all resist shaking her head at the teenager and laughing along with her at the outrageous thought.

But their laughter was abruptly cut short as a gunshot split open the stillness of the empty town.

(To Be Continued ...)


	4. Part 4

**Sweat**  
Part 4

**Author's Note: ** Hello everyone, I hope you're doing well. Here is the next chapter of sweat! I hope I didn't keep you teetering on that cliff hanger for too long! I just wanted to say thanks to everybody who took time to read and review_. _I always appreciate getting feedback on my writing, and I hope you keep it up. Also thanks to everyone who just took the time to read it! Hopefully you're enjoying the story too! I won't take up any more of your time, so here you go! Part four of Sweat!

(Start)

"Stay in the car!"

"But H.G, I - "

"Don't argue! Stay in the car!" Claudia did not argue. Helena turned her attention toward the direction of the gunshot while unholstering her slender custom-made Tesla gun. Chew toy still in his mouth, Trailer made his way around the back side of the SUV to stand at Helena's side.

"Trailer, forward," Helena ordered with a swift hand gesture. The dog dropped his chew toy and began marching forward, keeping his body low, his tail up, and his nose sniffing about furiously. Helena followed a few steps behind, eyes warily observing the buildings around them. Claudia gripped the car door as she watched the two advance, wishing that she had thought to bring her own Tesla. But it had been so long since they had seen any other people that she hardly even thought about it.

Helena and Trailer had gotten just a few yards away from their red SUV when two more gun shots rang out in the afternoon sky. Instinctively, everyone ducked and Trailer was set to barking but quieted after three or four barks went unanswered.

H.G could feel her heart beating insistently against her chest as she looked around the otherwise still town. The shots were extremely loud. Somewhere very near their location, someone was alive and felt the need to pull the trigger on someone or something else. Her instincts were telling her that it was time to leave. She took a step backwards when Claudia called to her.

"H.G!"

The Englishwoman abruptly turned around to see her young partner standing behind the passenger door, looking just as worried as Helena felt.

"Get back in the car Claudia," Helena called as she turned completely and began moving towards the SUV. "We're leaving!" Claudia moved to obey when the front door of a squat building a dozen yards or so down from the parked SUV slammed open. Instantly Helena spun around and raised her Tesla to the ready. Trailer jumped back in surprise and barked twice as a tall gangly figure stalked out the door and into the bright cold day.

It was a man. His shirt was stained and dirty. His jeans were tattered and faded. One shoe had a hole in its side so large that one could see nearly half of his foot. The man was sizable, but only from his height. His clothes sagged on his small frame and his arms were boney. His skin seemed a pallid gray and pulled gaunt against his face, giving his features a deathly attribute. His cheeks were as sunken as his dull eyes tan eyes and his dry yellow hair had receded halfway back on his head. His mouth hung open and his skin glistened wet as he sloughed from the doorway and Helena had no doubt that he was infected. But there were only two distinct things that Helena focused on and kept her Tesla gun raised because of. The sizable red blotch on the bottom right side of the man's dirty shirt that for the moment Helena assumed was blood was one reason. The other was the large silver long-nosed revolved that the haggard man carried in his left hand.

Trailer growled at the man, and the man returned with an agonized shout as he continued to stumble into the street. Pressing both hands over his eyes the man let out another shout that was so full of sorrow, frustration and despair that Helena felt her own chest ache with pity for the stranger. She did not lower her gun.

And then the man began to weep. He seemed to pay no mind to Helena or Trailer. In fact as he fell to his knees and his sobs intensified, Helena was not certain he even knew that he was not alone. The Warehouse agent wasn't sure if she ought to back away and drive off, or try to speak with the man. Her cautious side was certain that she ought to leave while she had the chance. But not for the first time in her life, her curiosity won out.

"Excuse me sir, are you all right?" Helena called to the weeping man.

"Are you serious, H.G?" Claudia called from her perch behind the car door. "The man is crying his eyes out! Of course he isn't okay!"

"Thank-you for that, Claudia," Helena said under her breath as she rolled her eyes. Having received no response from the man, Helena edged a step or two closer but kept her Tesla gun aimed squarely at the man.

"Excuse me sir! Can you hear me?" Helena called, raising her voice a bit. Trailer had stopped growling, but continued to bare his teeth. He did not like the look or smell of this strange man. Still, the man ignored them (or did not hear) and continued to weep.

"Sir, please. If you could just lower you gun and perhaps tell me your name," Helena continued. At this the man finally seemed to hear her and raised his head. He looked around as if he were confused, unsure of where he was or how he had gotten there. Helena stayed silent for a moment to allow the man to gather himself. Clearly the man was distraught. The Englishwoman knew a thing or two about sadness, and those in despair were not to be rushed.

Finally, the man's eyes focused on Helena, and the Warehouse agent saw the man's full face for the first time. He looked tired, weighted with his weariness. Helena suspected that she and Claudia looked much the same, but this man's eyes seemed half lifeless. The weariness had set in him so deeply that all hope had fled from his eyes, and Helena could tell quickly that this was a man who had given up.

For long moments the two traded stares but did not speak. The man made no move to get up off his knees; Helena made no steps to move closer or further away. It was the sallow man who eventually broke the silence.

"Who are you?" he asked in a small voice, sounding more like a scared child than a grown man. "Who are you?" the man repeated. Even in the deathly quiet of Univille, Helena could just barely hear him.

"My name is Helena," the Warehouse agent replied, keeping her gun up. "Now what is your name?" The man blinked and swallowed, his Adam's apple seemed almost bulging against his gaunt skin.

"I'm …," the man began in a whisper before his voice trialed off. His eyes began to move left and right, looking all about him before looking down at his stained shirt and shaking hands. "I am …," he began again as sweat slowly ran down his cheeks and neck. Helena did not rush the man as he brought his hands closer to his face as if shocked to see a gun in his grip. Suddenly, he let out another wail and let his hands drop back into the sandy road.

"Oh God! Oh God, please!" the man shouted as tears welled up in his reddened eyes. "I"m dead! I'm dead!" the man sobbed, and Helena hardly knew what to say. The man had lost his mind! Helena spared a glance back to Claudia, who simply shook her head and shrugged.

"And you're dead too," the man croaked. Helena whipped her head around to see the tall sallow man looking directly at her. Trailer growled and Helena was not certain if what she'd just heard was a threat or not.

"Are you going to tell me who you are?" Helena asked again, though she was quickly coming to the conclusion that this exchange was not going to be helpful. She was ready to back away to the SUV when the man surprised her with an answer.

"Richard," the man finally said in a low tone. "Poor, poor Richard."

"Richard? Is that your name? Richard?" Helena tried to clarify. The agent received a nod. "Did you live here in Univille?"

"Why did this happen?" the man retorted. "Any of this. Why?" he asked with a gesture to the empty town around them. "We were … we … we were so happy. So happy!" The man's words were interrupted every now and then with sobs and coughs that he was trying to hold in.

"Everything … it's all gone. Everything. My friends. My wife. My … my … my … oh God!" Oh God, my baby! My baby boy! My ba- … my boy … why? He … he …," the man broke down into heaving sobs at that point. But Helena didn't need to hear anymore to know that this man had lost everything and it had broken him. Helena was much the same as this man at one point, long back in time, in a different era, and not too far from that point now. After all, the world had practically ended all around her. The only thing that kept her going was a mad hope and her young partner Claudia.

She knew Richard's pain perfect well now, though it only made him more dangerous. A gun in the hands of someone consumed by that kind of grief was not a good thing.

Trailer barked at the man, not liking the smell of the sound of this man. He even took a few steps back. Helena thought it best if she began to back away as well and took a few backwards steps to that effect.

"Are you sick? Like my boy?" the man randomly asked amidst his sobs.

"Yes," Helena lied, hoping that would keep him at a distance.

"I'm not," the man said with a sudden smile and almost hysterical chuckle. "I'm not sick at all!" This made Helena pause. She threw another (quicker) glance back at Claudia, who looked just as shocked.

"You're not sick? How?" Helena questions. The man chuckled again, a grim and joyless sound,. He rose to his feet, his knees now caked with dirt and sand.

"Not any more," Richard said. "And my boy … my sweet little … he's not sick either. I cured him." For as curious as Helena was, she had a sudden and grim feeling about what this man was getting at.

"No," Helena mumbled after a few moments of thought, realizing exactly what this man had done. "No," she said louder.

"He was so sick," Richard stated, almost seeming to plead. "He was so sad, in so much pain. I had to. I had to help my boy."

"No!" Helena repeated, shaking her head. Her hands were shaking and she could feel her emotions welling up and tears slowly coming out of her eyes. "No, you didn't. You couldn't have …"

"But he's better now," Richard insisted. "He's so much better. My boy isn't hurting anymore." A calm had come over the ragged man as he began to raise his hands. "You should see him. Oh, he's so much better now! And I'm getting better too. Because we're both dead."

With a quick and clumsy motion, the destitute man shoved the end of the pistol into his mouth. Helena screamed too late.

Richard pulled the trigger.

(To Be Continued_...)_


End file.
